{"id":809967,"date":"2025-02-03T08:40:53","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T06:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=809967"},"modified":"2025-02-14T08:40:14","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T06:40:14","slug":"vodacom-pushes-for-massive-r13-billion-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/809967\/vodacom-pushes-for-massive-r13-billion-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Vodacom pushes for massive R13 billion deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Vodacom is appealing the Competition Tribunal’s decision to block the takeover of Maziv, arguing that it will help expand fibre access across the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in an operational update for the quarter ended 31 December 2024, Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said that the group’s execution of its strategy should ensure that it delivers its medium-term financial targets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent currency market stability, especially in Egpyt, is expected to bode well for the group’s performance in the year ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the quarter was positively impacted by accelerated growth in South Africa\u2019s prepaid market in addition to another stellar performance in Egypt and Tanzania. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, network operators in Mozambique, including Vodacom have been hampered by the post-election tensions since October 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a normalised basis, which removes the impact of currency fluctuations, group service revenue accelerated to 11.6%, which is far ahead of the group’s medium-term target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, on a reported basis, group service revenue decreased by 1.4%<\/strong> from the comparable quarter, while its South African business saw a 3.2% increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the improved Vodacom South Africa performance was underpinned by a variety of factors, such as successful seasonal campaigns, improved consumer environment in the prepaid segment and a 40.6% increase in data traffic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Service revenue from beyond mobile was another highlight, increasing by 11.3% and contributing R2.8 billion to South Africa\u2019s total of R16.2 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Having invested R3.2 billion in the quarter, we expect to invest between R11.0 and R11.2 billion of capital expenditure in the current financial year to further enhance customer experience,” said Joosub. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a mergers and acquisitions perspective, the group is appealing the decision handed down by the Competition Tribunal, which blocked the proposed acquisition of a joint stake in Maziv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed acquisition would see Vodacom cough up over R13 billion for a 30% to 40% stake in Vumatel and DFA\u2019s parent company, Maziv. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maziv is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Community Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We remain firmly of the view that this transaction will accelerate fibre reach in South Africa, fostering economic development and helping bridge South Africa\u2019s digital divide,” said Joosub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the deal, R10 billion in investment is planned to roll out fibre in low-income areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vodacom has also received outside support from Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau\u2014who oversees the appeal tribunal\u2014appealing the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MTN CEO Ralph Mupita also supported the deal, arguing that consolidation is needed in South Africa to support accelerated investment in digital infrastructure and services. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Looking internationally, Egypt’s strong performance was also largely led by clear NPS leadership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commercial momentum was strong in Egypt, with a 40.7% increase in financial services customers to 10.5 million and a 25.6% improvement in data traffic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With service revenue of R6.8 billion, Egypt now accounts for 22.3% of the group\u2019s total, closing the quarter with 50.7 million customers, up 6.2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Including Safaricom, Vodacom now has 210 million customers and hopes to connect the next ‘100 million Africans to the digital economy.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group’s financial services business saw the value of its mobile money transactions facilitated an increase of 19.1% in US dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group now processes US$1.2 billion a day, which it says highlights the scale of the business, which is a clear strategic priority for the group and the largest contributor beyond mobile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Looking ahead, the continued execution of our strategy has the potential to create immense economic value in the markets where we operate, which in turn will help address inequality,” he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In particular, we will continue to drive access to smartphones, financial services, healthcare and education to every person across our market.” <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub has reaffirmed the group’s commitment to purchase a stake in Maziv. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":793389,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[18376,27,8081],"class_list":["post-809967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecommunications","tag-maziv","tag-vodacom","tag-vumatel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809967"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":811704,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809967\/revisions\/811704"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}